As part of their official duties, law enforcement and security personnel must carry on themselves at all times many forms of official equipment for personal defense and restraint of apprehended persons. Typically, official equipment may comprise a collection of at least one lethal weapon in the form of a firearm, a set of handcuffs, pepper spray, nightstick, flashlight, radio, keys, gloves, and a whistle. Advancement in technology and public sentiment toward the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers and security personnel, however, has led to the development and use of a variety of non-lethal weapons, such as a Taser® device. Non-lethal weapons are largely complementary to existing lethal weapons and have not acted as a direct replacement therefor. The adaptation of the Taser® device in today's society largely adds to the present list of official equipment law enforcement personnel must carry during his or her undertaking of an official duty. Like a firearm, the Taser® device must be made readily accessible to a law enforcement officer whom is required to immediately act within his or her scope of official duties.
Individuals acting in their official capacity may commonly carry and hold the official equipment about and along their waistline by means of a belt or a similarly configured device. In order to provide for more secure containment of the official equipment, the belt may comprise an assortment of pouches and compartments specially configured for the equipment. The belt in this instance may supplementally serve in its recognized role or capacity to hold an individual's trousers about the waistline. Because of this dual purpose and recognizable functionality, these belts may become very heavy and discomforting to the wearer, particularly when it is loaded with official equipment. Because of the assortment of equipment one must carry and the weight associated therewith, the belt is typically fabricated from a heavy-weighted leather to ensure a more long durable life to its wearer.
As suggested above, the belt may comprise a number of individual pouches and compartments each being of a specific size and shape to adequately store the official equipment as exemplified above to ensure reliable accessibility thereto and mitigate risk of loss thereof. To make the official equipment generally more accessible to the wearer during his or her official duties, each pouch and compartment is preferably positioned about the belt's front and left and right sides. Placement of the pouches primarily on the front and left and right sides of the belt promotes an added benefit of comfort and safety during one's pursuit and undertaking of an official duty, such as sitting at a desk and driving an automobile.
The art recognizes that an individual involved in law enforcement and the like may have unique needs and requirements for holding and containing official equipment other than that of a belt described above, possibly to coincide with a specific duty or task associated with a particular job function or distribute the weight of the official equipment more about the wearer for increased comfort. Other supplementary devices serving in the capacity to store and contain official equipment about an individual may include a vest, a handbag, a shoulder bag, a waist bag, and a hip- or leg-mounted holster. Notwithstanding the viability of these supplementary devices for containing official equipment, each may comprise a unique advantage and disadvantage central to the aspect of concealment, wearer's comfort, and ability to gain quick and easy access to the official equipment during an emergency or in a crisis situation.
Vests come in a variety of shapes and forms to serve unique needs and requirements of an individual involved in law enforcement. A vest configured for wear underneath an outer garment like a shirt or jacket may further serve in concealing official equipment such as a firearm, while a vest configured for outer wear may promote convenience and ready access to the official equipment, but unduly compromising an often needed function of concealment. Regardless of the configuration, an added layer of clothing can promote a distinct disadvantage, particularly in hot weather, where a wearer's body temperature may unacceptably increase during engagement of a strenuous activity. To regulate body temperature, the wearer may be required to remove the vest temporarily from time to time, which may compromise its continued functionality and possibly increase risk of loss of the official equipment. In similar respects, particularly in cold weather, an individual may be required to wear a vest over a heavy winter coat or similar garment. The transition between outdoor and indoor environments may be a challenge especially if the official equipment stored within and on the vest needs to be accessible to the wearer at all times. Depending on the working conditions, a great number of outdoor to indoor and indoor to outdoor environmental transitions may be required during a typical workday, which consequently increases the number of times the vest must be repositioned about the wearer to sustain an acceptable level of climatic comfort.
A handbag, shoulder bag and waist bag each equally serve as adequate means for containing and storing official equipment required of law enforcement and security personnel. A handbag, for instance, may be configured for effective containment of the official equipment by comprising a variety of specially shaped compartments, but its use preoccupies a law enforcement officer's hand. Depending upon the circumstances, a law enforcement officer may be at a significant disadvantage if one or both hands are not free and available for use during an undertaking of an official duty. Additionally, since the handbag is not connected to the uniform in any physical manner, but to the individual, there may be an opportune moment for misplacement of the handbag during a momentary relief of duty.
Likewise, a shoulder bag may equally serve in the capacity to contain and carry the official equipment. However, since the shoulder bag is not integral to a law enforcement officer's uniform, it may also present an opportunity for misplacement. In further respects, straps or a harness assembly often associated with the shoulder bag by design may inadvertently catch passing objects or serve as effective means for grabbing the shoulder bag and retrieving the official equipment from a law enforcement officer by another, possibly by a perpetrator of a crime in pursuit. Moreover, the straps or the harness assembly may unacceptably serve as means for grabbing and leveraging down the law enforcement officer in an uncompromising position during a close combat situation. In either event, the availability of the official equipment for use by the law enforcement officer is unduly compromised and appreciably diminished during the line of duty.
A waist bag, like that of a shoulder bag, may equally serve in carrying and storing official equipment. However, a bag of this type may share the same location of the belt described above with its own number of compartments, which may lessen the overall effectiveness thereof for full and complete access to the official equipment or unacceptably increase the weight along and about the waistline. Like the positioning of compartments integrally attached to a belt, the waist bag will be positioned about the front or side waistline of an individual to permit convenient access to the official equipment and to enhance comfort during performance of an official task such as sitting and driving an automobile.
A holster may be regarded as the most common compartmental means for carrying official equipment by a law enforcement officer, but tends to be selectively directed for a specific use or application. The challenge is that the vast majority of traditional holsters are designed for carrying conventional firearms and not non-lethal weapons, notably a Taser® device. Their basic structure makes them useful for carrying a firearm in a manner that allows for quick access and retrieval thereof by the law enforcement officer. The most challenging aspect of holster use is balancing the need for securing and containing the firearm to prevent inadvertent misuse and providing quick and immediate access thereto during a crisis situation. Traditional holsters tend to be fabricated from a heavy-weighted leather, like that of the belt described above, and are worn and connected to an individual's hip or waistline, typically by means of a supplementary belt. Most individuals are either left- or right-hand dominant requiring placement of the firearm holster on the corresponding left or right side hip. Placement of the firearm holster about the hip, regardless of orientation, leaves little to no space for additional compartmental storage for other official equipment like that of the Taser® device. Nonetheless, the art recognizes that the holster may alternatively be placed and positioned about an individual's lower leg to retain compartmental storage about one's hip, as particularly described above, while permitting effective concealment of the firearm underneath a pant leg. As with this configuration, however, an individual's capacity or ability to effectively withdraw a lethal or non-lethal weapon during an emergency or in a crisis situation may appreciably diminish to an unacceptable level.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a holster assembly suited for integral attachment to a garment and comprises compartmental storage for secure containment of a holster sleeve and an accompanying non-lethal weapon, such as a Taser® device, about an individual that primarily affords convenient and immediate access thereto during an emergency or in a crisis situation, yet retains a level of comfort to the wearer and fulfills the ability to carry other forms of official equipment about the waistline, possibly by means of a belt integrally equipped with pouches and compartments or a waist bag.